Best Star Wars Characters Ranked

Darth Vader

He walks through a smoke-filled doorway in 1977 and cinema gets its greatest villain in one wordless entrance, but it's the 'I am your father' reveal and the wordless, love-soaked murder of the Emperor in Return of the Jedi that make him the most complete character arc in the saga. Add the Rogue One hallway massacre—one man, a lightsaber, and pure dread—and you have a villain whose mask alone is shorthand for the entire franchise. No character has ever made mechanical breathing sound like a threat.};

First Appearance: 1977Affiliation: Sith / EmpireCultural Impact: 10/10Fan Popularity: 10/10Force User: ✓

added by IJRin 3 rankings

Luke Skywalker

The farm boy who stares at twin suns becomes the audience's entry point into the galaxy, and his refusal to strike down his father in Return of the Jedi is the moral spine the entire original trilogy was building toward. He's less flashy than Han and less tragic than Vader, but he's the hero whose choice to believe in redemption over vengeance is the actual thesis of Star Wars. His grumpy hermit reinvention in The Last Jedi, capped by that ghost-projection lightsaber flex, proved the myth could still surprise us decades later.

First Appearance: 1977Affiliation: Jedi / RebellionCultural Impact: 10/10Fan Popularity: 9/10Force User: ✓

added by IJRLuke Skywalker

Yoda

Nine hundred years old, two feet tall, and somehow the most quietly devastating fighter and philosopher in the galaxy—Yoda flips expectations the moment he goes from cranky swamp muppet to blur-speed lightsaber duelist against Sidious. 'Do or do not, there is no try' became inescapable pop-culture wisdom, proof that a puppet with backwards syntax could out-act half of Hollywood. He's the moral center of the prequels and the Jedi Order's living memory, which makes his failure to stop Palpatine all the more tragic.

First Appearance: 1980Affiliation: Jedi OrderCultural Impact: 9/10Fan Popularity: 9/10Force User: ✓

added by IJRin 2 rankings

Han Solo

He shoots first, flies a hunk of junk that somehow always gets there, and turns 'I know' into one of the great romantic comebacks in movie history—Han is the reluctant hero who backs the rebellion because he actually cares, not because he's supposed to. His death at the hands of his own son in The Force Awakens is the gut-punch that proved the sequels understood what made the original trilogy hurt so good. Scoundrel, smuggler, general: no one made cynicism look this charming.

First Appearance: 1977Affiliation: Rebellion / SmugglerCultural Impact: 9/10Fan Popularity: 9/10Force User: —

added by IJRin 2 rankings

Princess Leia Organa

She's holding a blaster and barking orders before Luke even shows up, establishing immediately that this princess is also a general in waiting, and her hologram plea to Obi-Wan is the inciting spark of the entire saga. Leia founded the Rebellion's spirit as much as anyone, survived torture and genocide of her home planet, and later led the Resistance with the same steel—her Force-assisted space-walk back to life in The Last Jedi is one of the boldest images the sequels ever attempted. Carrie Fisher made royalty look like the toughest job in the galaxy.

First Appearance: 1977Affiliation: RebellionCultural Impact: 9/10Fan Popularity: 8/10Force User: ✓

added by IJR

Obi-Wan Kenobi

He dies on purpose in the very first movie and becomes more powerful than we could possibly imagine, turning his own death into the franchise's first lesson that sacrifice matters more than survival. His mentorship of both Anakin and Luke bookends the entire saga's tragedy-to-hope arc, and 'Hello there' became a meme precisely because his prequel-era charm never faded. The Disney+ series just confirmed what fans always felt—Obi-Wan's guilt and grace make him the galaxy's most decent man.

First Appearance: 1977Affiliation: Jedi OrderCultural Impact: 9/10Fan Popularity: 8/10Force User: ✓

added by IJRin 2 rankings

Emperor Palpatine

He spends the prequels hiding in plain sight as a kindly senator, then reveals himself as Darth Sidious and rewires the entire Republic into an Empire without anyone noticing until it's too late—that's the scariest kind of villain. His cackling lightning-storm death in Return of the Jedi, thrown down a reactor shaft by the son he tried to corrupt, is one of cinema's most satisfying comeuppances. Bringing him back for the sequels was divisive, but his 'unlimited power' remains the purest distillation of Star Wars evil.

First Appearance: 1980Affiliation: Sith / EmpireCultural Impact: 8/10Fan Popularity: 7/10Force User: ✓

added by IJR

Chewbacca

A seven-foot Wookiee who communicates entirely in growls and still manages to be one of the most emotionally legible characters in the saga, Chewbacca's loyalty to Han is the beating heart under all that fur. His grief-roar over Han's death in The Force Awakens needs no subtitles to wreck you, and the long-overdue medal in The Rise of Skywalker finally gave him his due. He's proof that a walking carpet can carry as much pathos as any human star.

First Appearance: 1977Affiliation: RebellionCultural Impact: 8/10Fan Popularity: 8/10Force User: —

added by IJRin 2 rankingsChewbacca

R2-D2

The astromech that carries the Death Star plans, projects Leia's desperate hologram, and refuses to give up on Anakin's family across three generations is quietly the most consequential character in the entire saga's plot machinery. He beeps, he wobbles, he electrocutes the occasional smug protocol droid, and somehow conveys more personality through sound effects than most characters manage with dialogue. R2 is the little astromech who could, and did, save the galaxy more than once.

First Appearance: 1977Affiliation: Rebellion / DroidCultural Impact: 8/10Fan Popularity: 8/10Force User: —

added by IJRin 3 rankingsR2-D2

C-3PO

The anxious, golden-plated worrywart exists to remind everyone that even in a galaxy far, far away, someone has to complain about the odds—3PO's fussy translations and constant dread are the comic relief that makes the danger feel real by contrast. His memory wipe at the end of Revenge of the Sith is a quietly devastating detail once you realize what he's forgotten. Every buddy-comedy pairing with R2 across decades of films proves some double acts are simply eternal.

First Appearance: 1977Affiliation: Rebellion / DroidCultural Impact: 7/10Fan Popularity: 7/10Force User: —

added by IJRin 2 rankingsC-3PO

Darth Maul

He says almost nothing in The Phantom Menace and still becomes an instant icon purely through double-bladed lightsaber choreography and that black-and-red face paint, turning a thin script into a legendary physical performance. Cut in half and left for dead, he refused to stay gone, clawing his way back through Clone Wars and Rebels into one of the richest villain redemptions—or rather anti-redemptions—in Star Wars canon. His 'Maul' whisper to Obi-Wan in Rebels is chilling proof the character grew far beyond his brief film run.

First Appearance: 1999Affiliation: SithCultural Impact: 8/10Fan Popularity: 8/10Force User: ✓

added by IJRDarth Maul

Mace Windu

Samuel L. Jackson brought sheer gravitas to the Jedi Council, and his purple lightsaber alone made him instantly iconic among a sea of blue and green blades. His climactic duel with Palpatine—nearly winning, disarming the Emperor, and then getting betrayed by Anakin's hesitation—is the single hinge moment where the entire Republic falls. 'This party's over' remains one of the most quotable lines in the prequels for a reason.

First Appearance: 1999Affiliation: Jedi OrderCultural Impact: 6/10Fan Popularity: 7/10Force User: ✓

added by IJRMace Windu

Anakin Skywalker

The kid who wins a podrace and grows into the man who slaughters younglings in a Jedi temple is the most tragic character arc Star Wars has ever attempted, and however clunky the prequel dialogue got, the fall itself remains genuinely devastating. His 'I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire' delusion in Revenge of the Sith is chilling self-justification for genocide, and his final redemption—hurling Palpatine down that shaft—closes the loop Vader started. Love him or cringe at him, Anakin's fall is the entire saga's tragic engine.

First Appearance: 1999Affiliation: Jedi / SithCultural Impact: 8/10Fan Popularity: 7/10Force User: ✓

added by IJRAnakin Skywalker

Boba Fett

He has maybe four lines in the original trilogy and somehow became one of the most beloved characters in Star Wars history purely on mystique, cool armor, and that jetpack—then got unceremoniously eaten by a sand creature, which fans refused to accept for decades. The Mandalorian and his own spinoff finally gave him the depth his cult following always insisted he deserved, reclaiming his armor and his throne. Few characters prove the power of aesthetic and fan imagination quite like Fett.

First Appearance: 1980Affiliation: Bounty HunterCultural Impact: 8/10Fan Popularity: 8/10Force User: —

added by IJRBoba Fett

Kylo Ren

Torn between his grandfather's legacy and his own conflicted identity, Kylo Ren's patricide on the bridge of Starkiller Base is the sequel trilogy's most brutal, generation-defining moment. His shirtless rage, his shattered mask, his eventual turn back to Ben Solo in Rey's arms—Adam Driver made every contradictory beat feel like real anguish rather than fan-service whiplash. He's the sequel trilogy's most successful attempt at recreating Vader's tragedy for a new generation.

First Appearance: 2015Affiliation: First OrderCultural Impact: 6/10Fan Popularity: 6/10Force User: ✓

added by IJRKylo Ren

Rey

A scavenger on a junk-strewn desert world picks up a lightsaber she's never held and suddenly the entire sequel trilogy has its new center of gravity, culminating in her choice to take the Skywalker name as her own in The Rise of Skywalker. Her lightsaber duel with Kylo Ren amid the wreckage of the second Death Star, snow and rain and red light everywhere, is the sequels' single most operatic image. Whatever the trilogy's flaws, Rey's journey from nobody to legacy-bearer gave a new generation their own hero to project onto.

First Appearance: 2015Affiliation: Resistance / JediCultural Impact: 6/10Fan Popularity: 6/10Force User: ✓

added by IJR

Grogu (Baby Yoda)

A fifty-year-old toddler with force-sensitive ears and a taste for frog eggs somehow became a global merchandising phenomenon within weeks of The Mandalorian's premiere, proving Star Wars could still generate pure, uncomplicated joy. His silent bond with Din Djarin—reaching out a tiny green hand, using the Force to save him again and again—reset what found-family storytelling could look like in this universe. Grogu turned 'this is the way' into something warmer than a creed.

First Appearance: 2019Affiliation: UnaffiliatedCultural Impact: 8/10Fan Popularity: 9/10Force User: ✓

added by IJR

Din Djarin (Mandalorian)

A masked bounty hunter who never removes his helmet on-screen for years still manages to become one of the most beloved new characters in decades, purely through quiet devotion to a code and a green baby he was never supposed to keep. 'I can bring you in warm, or I can bring you in cold' set the show's tone instantly, but it's his slow unlearning of dogma for Grogu's sake that gives Din Djarin real weight. He proved Star Wars could still find new emotional ground in old armor.

First Appearance: 2019Affiliation: MandalorianCultural Impact: 7/10Fan Popularity: 8/10Force User: —

added by IJR

Ahsoka Tano

Introduced as an annoying padawan gimmick in The Clone Wars film, Ahsoka Tano grew into arguably the richest character in the entire expanded canon—leaving the Jedi Order on her own terms, surviving Order 66, and eventually facing down her old master Anakin as the fearsome Darth Vader in a duel soaked with grief. 'I'm no Jedi' is a mic-drop line that redefined what a Star Wars hero could look like outside the Order's rules. Her live-action arrival, white lightsabers blazing, was one of the most fan-anticipated moments in modern Star Wars.

First Appearance: 2008Affiliation: Jedi Order / IndependentCultural Impact: 7/10Fan Popularity: 8/10Force User: ✓

added by IJRAhsoka Tano

Lando Calrissian

He swaggers into The Empire Strikes Back with a cape, a smile, and a betrayal already in motion, then spends Return of the Jedi redeeming himself by flying the Millennium Falcon into the second Death Star's core—smooth doesn't cover it. Billy Dee Williams made Lando the galaxy's coolest scoundrel-turned-hero, a charismatic counterpoint to Han that never once felt redundant. Decades later, his cameo energy alone in the sequels reminded everyone how much personality one character could bring to a scene.

First Appearance: 1980Affiliation: Rebellion / SmugglerCultural Impact: 6/10Fan Popularity: 7/10Force User: —

added by IJRLando Calrissian